For some lucky folks, taking a luxury cruise includes a very valuable extra benefit, in the form of a personal butler who can help navigate mundane tasks like unpacking your suitcase—and supreme tasks like arranging a meet-up with your favorite opera celebrity, as reported by Conde Nast Traveler.
It seems like butlers actually crave creative tasks and enjoy being asked for the moon. One example in the article included a butler helping a passenger fulfill the dream of hitting a golf ball off the Great Wall of China—not only did the butler make it happen, they also had the ship’s carpenter make a custom wooden case to display the golf club that had participated in this unusual athletic feat. The ship’s captain then presented the case to the passenger, replete with a little placard describing the event.
Another butler created a photo album of a couple traveling for their anniversary, pulling images off social media to do so. Another helped a passenger connect with opera star Andrea Bocelli after hearing the passenger say she’d like to meet him. Sounds like passengers ought to start musing aloud about how much they’d love front-row Taylor Swift tickets…. Butlers have been known to bake cookies (or at least order the pastry chef to make them) according to your grandma's recipe; maybe that even includes calling her up to chat and get the recipe.
These highly-responsive personal experience engineers sound kind of like parents: they delight in surprising you and giving you over-the-top gifts. So, start scheming and book your luxury cruise! And if you’re uncomfortable with this level of attention, you can just have the butler draw your bath and close the door. That works, too.